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Fit fit, broken pieces of flatbread cooked with fat and spices, is a typical dish throughout East Africa and is made with either Ethiopian-style injera (a flatbread made from fermented teff flour) or Eritrean kicha, like the one Ma Gehennet taught us how to make. It’s a wonderful way to use up leftover flatbread of any kind. You could even use leftover pita bread.

In this recipe, I stick to the traditional proteins— steak, chicken, and shrimp. In Nigeria, suya is served with sliced tomatoes and onions, which help mellow the heat. Here that role is played by a tomato- ginger soubise and a traditional onion cream sauce from France, and I keep the tomatoes and onions in the form of pickles, whose burst of acidity rounds out the flavors.

I first moved to Brooklyn in 1997 to attend graduate school at NYU. My homeboy from college, Mike Molina, and I got an apartment in Crown Heights on Schenectady Avenue […]

The bones in the short ribs add great flavor to this dish; however, you could also make it with big chunks of beef chuck. If you do, reduce the initial cooking time of the meat by about half. The pestata of almonds and porcini does double duty here, adding a rich earthiness to the sauce and helping to thicken it without flour.

This rustic guacamole, popular in Mexico City and throughout central Mexico, is made with mashed charred fresh chiles, garlic, and onion, adding a layer of rich smoky flavor to the avocado.